Because he's not Cat Noir without cat, yeah?
by Sqydd
Summary: Or the story where Plagg's kitty tendencies humorously pass onto Adrien. Oneshot


By their first year of university, Marinette and Adrien had officially become a "couple." (Because, according to Alya and their other comedian friends, they weren't a "couple" until the official question was popped, and that can of worms returned Marinette to the stuttering, clumsy mess she was in their _4ème_ days.) Even though Marinette was in a simple fashion school and Adrien's grades and lineage led him to a _grande école_ business school, they still made time to be together at least twice a week. Well, as Marinette and Adrien, anyway. Akuma battles, while of course unwanted, had a lull afterwards when Ladybug and Cat Noir could talk until thoughts of their studies pulled them back home. The system worked fine, except Marinette was noticing cogs in their machines. Or… _hairballs in their throat_ would be more appropriate.

"Okay, kitty, I have some sketches due for an early morning class, so let's call it a—" Ladybug, having leapt onto the adjoining roof where Cat Noir last described his location, found her partner/boyfriend sitting on the roof's railing and quite calmly combing his messy hair with the back of his hand, licking the leather fabric occasionally. She tried and failed to suppress a wide grin at the sight, knotting her yoyo around her waist and coming up behind him. "Grooming yourself for a girl?" she asked.

"Ladybug!" He started at the sound of her voice, spinning around quickly enough to lose his balance. She caught his arm and pulled him back, and as soon as he regained his footing, his cool was back. "Not that I needed it or anything, but I like to look good for my lady." She giggled softly.

"First purring, now this? What else do I have to expect?" He grimaced to himself and muttered something about Plagg under his breath.

"Hopefully, this is the last of it."

Maybe because he was the embodiment of bad luck, but it wasn't the last of it. More often after that, Ladybug caught him grooming, sometimes halting in the middle of a run to flop onto his back, and once during an akuma battle, he was drawn by a reflection created by a passing car. She lost him for a while until she stopped the villain (who thankfully didn't do much more than create soap suds—she wish she would've known the person personally to hear the funny story behind that) and then found Cat Noir sitting in an alley looking a bit dazed.

"I mean, it's not as if you get ladybug tendencies," Adrien pouted as they sat in Marinette's room with a shared plate of chocolate croissants. Tikki and Plagg lounged on her bed with their own plate of chocolate cookies and cheese Danishes. Marinette raised a brow with a curious smile.

"Ladybug tendencies? What exactly would those be?"

"A gross love of cookies," Plagg piped up. Adrien threw a few crumbs at him.

"You're one to talk! I swear you'd marry that camembert of yours if you had the chance."

"If only I did," he said with a wistful sigh. Tikki rolled her eyes and floated up to Adrien's shoulder.

"Our essences go into the Miraculous to give them power," she explained. "They only require our power to function, so the ones of us with _self-control_ only allow them our _power_. It looks like some of Plagg's tendencies are bleeding through yours, Adrien."

"Okay, so. What you're saying is, it's all Plagg's fault." Adrien stared down Plagg, who was completely unrepentant as he pawed at his tail dangling above him.

"Plagg! Aren't you supposed to say two words?" Tikki was over in a flash, yanking his tail hard enough to earn a disgruntled groan from him.

"Ease up!" he complained, taking his tail from her grip. He reached for his Danishes, found they were finished, and quick as lightning was at Marinette's side, nuzzling her cheek. "Please, Princess, can I get more of your divine Danishes?" Marinette couldn't say no to his big kitty eyes and took him in her hands, scratching behind his ear with a finger.

"He never sucks up to me like that," Adrien muttered. Plagg's ear twitched and he immediately waved Adrien off.

"If you could make pastries like the princess, I would." He rolled over to give Marinette a better angle, purring all the while, and Adrien's pout deepened as he shoved a whole croissant in his mouth.

Then again, she couldn't make a _huge_ deal out of his feline habits. One day, while Ladybug and Cat Noir were answering a few newspersons' questions, the latter doing so in his usual theatrics/bad puns combo, a particularly troublesome one came up:

"So, Ladybug, Cat Noir, we know you're only superheroes part of the day," a young and (Ladybug had to admit) not-so-bad-looking journalist, whose nametag read _F. Bourbonnais_ , began, although his focus was majorly on Ladybug and the high-wattage smile he was sending her way. "You have normal, everyday lives, perhaps with a significant other?"

She glanced at Cat Noir from the corner of her eye with a slight smirk on her face, then responded, "I care for all Parisians equally."

"For a beautiful young lady such as yourself, there must be someone else," he pressed. "Or, perhaps, you're still looking for the right one…?" He took a subtle step towards her that she didn't notice.

"Sorry to disappoint," she smiled, raising her hand against the flurry of ensuing camera flashes. She was a little distracted, and so the sudden grip around her shoulders and knees shocked her until she was watching the crowd of reporters fall away while she was rising into the air. "Cat Noir! What are you doing?"

He didn't speak until his baton carried them to a tall rooftop. He dropped her then, and just as she was about to demand an answer again, his arms went around her, pinning her against his body. She felt more than heard his chest vibrate from a low growl in the back of his throat. He nuzzled his face into her hair, mussing it slightly, and she raised her hands to his shoulders.

"Were you jealous?" she asked, but he still didn't respond. "Hey, Cat Noir—"

His hands moved from her back to trace up and down her figure, and with a crimson blush blooming under her mask, Ladybug shoved him away hard. He landed on his butt with a surprised yowl, then blinked at her a few times. "What are y—did I just—" He shook his head hard and said with no small amount of anger and embarrassment, "Plagg, detransform!"

"What's the problem now?" Plagg complained, attempting to dive in Adrien's shirt for his camembert when Adrien caught him in his fist. He sighed and rolled his big green eyes. "You were marking her with your scent, I guess because you didn't like that reporter guy eyeballing her." Adrien's cheeks turned as red as Ladybug's suit. He released Plagg and turned away, folding his arms.

"W-Well…can you blame me, my lady?"

She laughed as she knelt in front of him. Then, with a coy smile, "You're such a spoiled kitty." He turned back to her with a smirk that looked uncanny on Adrien Agreste's face.

"I was purr-fectly within my rights, then." Ladybug groaned and hit his shoulder lightly, earning the joyful laugh that she'd come to love from him. He snatched her hand and pressed a kiss to her scarlet knuckles, then leaned in close to kiss her cheek. Meanwhile, Plagg gagged as they dissolved into a show of affection. All the camembert in the world wasn't worth seeing those lovebirds being gross.


End file.
